Thomas Cook

22 November 1808 - 18 July 1892. English Baptist minister, businessman, and founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son (cf. Encyclopædia Britannica, Oxford Reference).

Cultural and Societal Context

In the second half of the 19th century a new leisure and pleasure culture developed in Britain. This development was greatly influenced by an overall increase in prosperity, less working hours, and an expansion of the railway system. In the course of these developments, weekend trips by train became popular for a large part of the population which, moreover, resulted in the establishment of seaside resorts (cf. Schwanitz 381). A pioneer in the field of tourism was Thomas Cook, who “can be said to have invented modern tourism” (Encyclopædia Britannica).

Cook and Tourism

Thomas Cook’s career as a travel agent started in 1841 when he arranged with the Midland Railway Company a special excursion train to bring people to a temperance meeting; the train ran from Leicester to Loughborough. After that Cook arranged other trips to temperance meetings. In 1845 Cook started to organize Midland Railway Company excursions and issued hotel tokens. Shortly thereafter he arranged complete holidays including trips from Leicester to Glasgow, from Leeds and Bradford to the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, and from Leicester to Calais for the 1855 Paris Exhibition (cf. Oxford Reference, Royle 263).

In 1856 Thomas Cook organized his first Grand Tour of Europe. For those who could not afford the Grand Tour, he arranged so-called moon-light trips to Scarborough, whereby people could spend a whole day by the sea. Cook also offered day excursions and Sunday school trips for children; in 1856 2,000 children went from Newcastle to Edinburgh. That way young people were also taken away from ‘temptation’ when there was a fair in town (cf. Royle 263). In the 1860s Cook started to sell domestic as well as overseas travel tickets; by 1864 he took tourists inter alia to Switzerland (cf. Encyclopædia Britannica, Royle 263). It can be said that at that time “[t]he modern tourist industry was born” (Royle 264). When Cook died in 1892 his company was passed to his only son John Mason Cook (1834-1899) (cf. Encyclopædia Britannica).

References

• Royle, Edward. Modern Britain. A Social History. 1750-1985. London: Arnold, 1987.
• Schwanitz, Dietrich. Englische Kulturgeschichte von 1500 bis 1914. Tübingen/Basel: Francke, 1995.
• “Thomas Cook.” Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 31 May. 2002. academic.ed.com/levels/collegiate/article/Thomas-Cook/26116. Accessed 5 Feb. 2021.
• “Thomas Cook.” Oxford Reference. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803104244860?print. Accessed 5 Feb.2021.